User blog comment:MentalZ/Valentine's Day/@comment-1399757-20110213194823/@comment-1209332-20110214184412

I realize it's no sin, but the costumes, asking for candy and all thing came from pagan celebrations. All Saint's Eve just happens to be on the same day.

You're right: culture isn't cement- it's a reflection of an idea. I think that the way our holidays have changed is at the very least, culture neutral. The reason that our holidays are so commercial is because we are a commercial society, not because we are a heathen society. The only way to express religion is through culture- ergo, in modern society faith is expressed through commercialism. Because we're only 30-40 years into the commercialism age (about a generation), many people still abhor the commercialism that is our culture. The way we perceive faith and culture has evolved so much in unpredictable ways over millennia. For example, most religions have a root in (usually) animal sacrifices, which later trends towards building altars, verbal prayer, and then in the middle ages to books of scripture and organized clergy. A few centuries later we see the idea of personal responsibility in religion, which was as horrible to the Roman Catholics of 1400 as commercialism is to us today. In short: Commercialism is just another natural evolution of culture and religion which will be completely accepted in a few generations.